Pete Golding has built a defense that took over games before.
Back in 2024, his group set an Ole Miss record with 52 sacks. No team in the country had more, and that unit also piled up 120 tackles for loss.
Opponents averaged just 80.5 rushing yards a game against that defense. Only one team in the nation was stingier.
Saturday’s version didn’t look much like it.
Florida ran for 302 yards and beat the Rebels 52-28 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Gators found the end zone seven times, and the passing game only needed to do it once.
So Golding won’t need to hunt for chores during the off week. His whole job is getting players to perform up to their ability, and Florida handed him plenty to work on.
The front stopped showing up
Ole Miss didn’t get a sack. It didn’t force a turnover either.
Florida snapped the ball 76 times. The Rebels stopped the ball carrier behind the line once.
Jaylon Braxton hurried Aaron Philo once. Nobody else on the defense got close enough to do it.
Philo threw downfield successfully just eight times. The pressure still never came.
Not a great look for a front with William Echoles, Kam Franklin, Suntarine Perkins, Blake Purchase and Jehiem Oatis on it. Those players have NFL ability.
Braxton’s pick closed out a 32-24 win over LSU a week earlier. Before that, Echoles and Purchase each dropped the quarterback, and Echoles added three tackles for loss.
Through four games, the Rebs have six sacks, two interceptions and zero fumble recoveries.
Florida’s backs kept breaking free
Jadan Baugh made the Rebs pay all afternoon. He ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns.
Duke Clark turned just 12 carries into 126 yards and a score.
Florida hadn’t had two 100-yard rushers in one game since Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson Jr. pulled it off in 2024.
Echoles drifted out of his spot on an outside zone run. Clark took it the distance, 45 yards for six points.
One guy leaves his gap and the whole run fit caves in.
Pro Football Focus charted 14 missed tackles for Ole Miss in this one.
Before that, LSU got 14 of them, Charlotte got 10 and Louisville got 25. The season total sits at 63, which is almost 16 whiffs per game.
Golding’s halftime message
Golding kept one part of his postgame message simple.
“Tackling the guy with the ball is a real thing with defense,” he said. “It’s kind of important.”
Pop Warner coaches have been saying that for years.
At the break, Golding went after his players’ “manhood.”
“A lack of courage” was how he described some of what he watched. He didn’t like guys trying to go low on Baugh, a 225-pound back, instead of squaring up.
Keaton Thomas didn’t hide from it either. “At halftime, I think some guys took it and other guys didn’t,” Thomas said.
Golding can drill form tackling all week in Oxford. Whether guys want to hit a back that big on Saturday is up to them.
The final 20 minutes got ugly
This one didn’t start as a blowout.
With 5:21 to go in the third quarter, the Rebs were down only three at 24-21.
With Trinidad Chambliss and Deuce Alexander on offense, the Rebels can score with a lot of SEC teams. For a while, this looked like one of those days.
The final 20 minutes belonged to Florida. The Gators put up 28 points while Ole Miss managed seven.
The defense barely left the field in the last period. Florida kept the ball for 11:30 of it and scored three times.
By then, the Rebels looked like they were waiting on the clock to hit zero.
Florida wasn’t going to let that kind of play slide.
Two weeks to find answers
Vanderbilt is next, and the off week gives Golding 14 days to work.
His list covers the basics: wrap up the ball carrier, stay in your gap and get after the quarterback.
The talent to do it is already in the room.
Golding’s 2024 group proves he can build a defense that pushes people around. The Commodores get the first look at whether this one can get there.
